Brake rigging for railway cars



April 18, 1933. c. HAN KINS 1,904,135

BRAKE RIGGING' FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed March 26. 1931 Q Patented Apr. 18,1933

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CYRUS HANKINS, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA IBRA-KE RIGGING FOR RAILWAY CARS Application filed March 26, 1931.. Serial No. 525,531.

between the underframe and thecar truck.

A primary feature of theinvention consists in providing means for flexibly connecting the dead lever to the underframe of the car involving means pivotally connected at one end to the dead lever and having at the other end ball and socket connection with a bracket secured to the underframe.

Another feature of the invention consists in rigidly securing a-bracket to the underframe of the car and in movably connecting the upperend of the dead lever to thebracket, a portion of said connecting means and the bracket having spherically curved cooperating portions,

A further feature of the invention con sists in providing the underframe of the car with a bracket and in connecting the upper end of the dead lever to the bracket by means involving a member provided with a spherically curved porti0n, the bracket having an opening of greater width than the curved portion through which said member is adapted to extend and means disposed within the opening aifording a seat for the curved portion of the member.

A still further feature of the invention Other and more specific features of'the invention residing in advantageous forms, combinations and relations of parts will hereinafter appear and be pointed out in theclaims. i i

In the drawing illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention z Figure 1 is a fragmentary, vertical sectional View of a railway car showing my inventionapplied thereto.

Figure 2 isa plan view, partly insection, of a portion ofthe construction illustrated in Figure 1. Y r i t Figure 3 is an. enlarged view' taken on line 33, Figure 1 showing the'bracket of the dead lever connecting means in end elevation. I p

Figure 4 is a sectional View taken on line 44, Figure 3.

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional View" on line 55, Figure 1; 7 As is well known the conventional brake rigging for railway cars consists of a fluid pressure cylinder rigidly'mounted on the underframe' of the car and a system of connected rods and levers for transmitting force from thecylinder to the brake shoes mountotally connected to and actuated by the brake levers which as is well known are inclined at anangle of approximately forty degrees to the vertical. One'of these brake levers, namely, the one to which the brake applying force is first transmitted from the brake cylinder, is termed the live lever while the other brake lever, namely the one anchored to some part of the car, is usually termed the deadlever. As the invention only relates to means for connecting orlanchoring the dead lever to the car only this lever and adja-cent portions of the brake rigging have been illustrated.

Referring more particularly to the drawing 1 indicates the dead lever and 2 the push rod which connects the lower ends of the dead trated and is designated by the reference numeral 4.

The means for connecting the upper end of the dead lever to the car underframe comprises a tension connector involving two members 5 and 6, respectively. Member 5 may advantageously be of U-shape having arms 7 disposed in planes substantially parallel to the plane of normal operation of the dead lever and spaced a suificient distance apart for receiving the upper end of the latter. The arms are connected to the dead lever by a pivot pin 8 whose axis is substantially perpendicular to the plane of normal operation of the lever and in order that the dead lever may be connected to member 5 in a plurality of positions of adjustment to take up slack in the brake rigging, the arms 7 are provided with a plurality of pairs of registering apertures 9, any pair of which is adapted to receive the connecting pin 8.

The other memberv ,6 of the tension connectoris movably associated with a bracket 10 which ispreferably formed as an integral casting and is rigidly secured to the. underframe of the car. One end ofmember 6 is provided'with a ball portion 11 cooperable with the bracket, and the other end thereof is provided with a portion 12'. interposed between and connected by a pin 13 to the arms 7 of the U-shaped member 5. Integrally formed with the portion 12 and projecting in opposite directions therefrom are lugs 14, one of which is adapted to be disposed in overlapping relation with the lower edge of one arm of the U-shaped member and the other one'of which is adapted to be disposed in overlapping relation with the upper edge of the otherarm thereof.' It will thus be observed that members 5 and 6 are immovably connected, the pin 13 serving to prevent relative longitudinal movement and the lugs 14 together with the pin 13 serving to prevent relative angular movement. If desired, the end portions of the arms 7 adjacent the member 6 may be provided with a pair of registering apertures 15 in addition to the ones in which as shown in Figure 1 the pin 13 is disposed to assist intaking up slack in the brake rigging. The distance between the centers of these apertures is preferably greater than the distance between the centersof apertures9 so that a veryfine'degree of adj ustment may be obtained.

The bracket 10 is provided with a top flange or plate portion 16 for attachment by rivets 17 to the bottom flange 18 of an adj acent center sill 19 of the car underframe. Extending downwardly from the flange 16 is a substantially vertical plate portion 20 which terminates in an enlarged circular portion 21 offset downwardly and outwardly from theflange. The bracket may advantageously be rigidified by flanges22 and 23 which project from oppositesides of the. plate of greater width than the ball portion 11 of the member 6 through which that member extends. Rigidly secured to the internal flange 24: are two, preferably semi-circular, members 25 respectively having portions 26 disposed within' the opening defined by the flange 24. p The members 25 define an opening of lesswidth than the ball portion 11 and are formed with concave sphericallycurved portions afiording a seat for the convex spherically curved portion of the member 6. Each of the members 25 is preferably secured to the bracket by only one rivet 27 so that they may be easily removed from the bracket. The purpose of providing the bracket with removable portions 25 is not only to permit replacement of thosemembers but also topermit the member 6 to be associated or disassociatecl with the bracket. As pointed out the opening defined by the internal flange 24 is of greater width than the ball portion 11 so that when the semi-circularseat members 25 are removed by cutting or shearing the rivets 27 the ball portion 11 of member 6 may be withdrawn through the opening. It will,'of course, be understood that if the end portion 12 ofthe member 6 is of such size that it can be pulled through the opening defined by the members 25 the latter need not be formed separately from the bracket,

. By providing a tension connector having at one end pivotal connection to the dead lever and having at the other end ball and socket connection with the bracket, it will be appreciatedthat the dead lever is universallyconnected to the bracket and consequently may move angularly with respect to the longitudinal axis of-the underframe in substantially all directions to compensate for relative movement between the car truck and car body.

' I claim: 1. In a railway car brake rigging, the combination with the underframe of a'car, of a dead lev'er,a bracket rigid with the underframe and having a recessed portion, and means movably connecting the upper end of the dead lever'to the bracket, said means involvinga member having a curved portion movably associated with the bracket, said bracket being provided with means disposed within said recess affording a seat for th curved portion ofsaid' member.

2.1 In a railway car brake rigging, the combination with the underframe of a car, of a .dead lever, a bracket rigidly secured to the underframe, means for connecting the upper end of the dead lever to the bracket, said means involving a member movably associated with the bracket and provided with a spherically curved portion, said bracket havdead lever, a bracket rigidly secured to the.

underframe, means for connecting the upper end of the dead lever to the bracket, said means involving a member movably associated with the bracket and provided with a spherically curved portion, said bracket having an opening of greater width than the said curved portion through which said member is adapted to extend, and means disposed within said opening defining an opening of less width than said curved portion and affording a seat for the latter.

4. In a railway car brake rigging, the combination with the underframe of a car, of a dead lever, a bracket rigidly secured to the underframe, means for connecting the upper end of thedead lever to the bracket, said means involving a member movably associated with the bracket and provided with a spherically curved portion, said bracket having an opening of greater width than the said curved portion through which said member is adapted to extend, and a plurallty of removable members secured to said bracket and respectively having portions disposed within the opening thereof defining an opening of less width than the said curved portion of the member, said removable members having curved portions affording a seat for the said curved portion.

5. In a railway car brake rigging, the combination with the underframe of a car, of a dead lever, a bracket rigidly secured to the underframe, means for connecting the upper end of the dead lever to the bracket, said means involving a member movably associated with the bracket and provided with a opening defining an opening of less width than said curved portion, said semi-circular members having curved portions affording a seat for the curved portion of said member.

6. In a railway car brake rigging, the combination with the underframe of a car, of a dead lever, a bracket rigid with the underframe and having a portion disposed below the latter provided with an opening, means for connecting the upper end of the dead lever to the bracket, said means involving a. member-disposed within the opening of the bracket havingija spherically ur e P' rt Q Qf ssh han id nshsaid opening afording aseat iiorifthe V of the dead lever to the bracket, said means involving a member extending through the opening of the bracket and provided with a:

spherically curved portion of less width than said opening, and means removably secured tosaid bracket and having portions disposed Within the opening thereof defining an opening of less width thanthe curved por-" tion of said member, said removable means affording a seat for the said curved portion. 8. In a railway car brake. rigging, the

combination with the underframe of a car, of a dead lever, a bracket rigid with the underframe having a top portion for attachment to the latter and a downwardly offset port-1011 provided with an opening, said bracket being integrally formed with flanges connecting said top portion and said 'ofl set portion,'means for movably connecting the upper end of the dead lever'to the bracket,

said means comprising a member extending through the opening of the bracket and pro 1 0 vided with a curved portion of less Width than said opening, and means secured to said bracket having portions respectively disposed within the opening ofthe latter definmg an opening of less width than the said curved portion of said member, said lastnamed means afiording a seat-for the said curved portion. V v -9. In a railway car brake rigging, the combination with the underframe of a car,

of a dead lever, a bracket rigidly secured to;

the underframe, and means movably connecting the upper end of the dead lever to the bracket, said means comprising a U- shaped member having spaced arms pivotally connected to the lever and a rigid mem-,

ber havingcball and socket connection with said bracket, said rigid member being provided with a portion interposed between and 1gonnected to the arms of the U-shaped-mem:

er. v

10. In a railway car brake rigging, the combination with the underframe of a car, of a dead lever, a bracket rigid with the underframe, a U-shaped member having spaced arms pivotally connected to the upper end a I of the dead lever, and a rigid member having a portion interposedbetween and connected to the arms of said U-shaped member, said rigid member and bracket being respectively provided with spherically curved 00- ep emting' pertiohs, the pQrtion 0f the rigid member interposed between the arms of said I U-shaped member being provided with 0p- Positely projecting lugs arranged in over- 7 lapping relation to the edges of said arms. In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

CYRUS HANKI'NS.

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